In the days leading up to the AFC Championship Game, one of the big questions was how Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham would fair in his first start since Week 18 of the 2023 season.
Stidham hit a deep shot to Marvin Mims on the second offensive possession of the game to set up a touchdown pass and provide hope that the moment would not prove to be too big for him. That feeling faded in the second quarter when Stidham was pressured by Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss on a third down play. Stidham backpedaled furiously and tried to throw the ball away, but wound up throwing it backward and the Patriots recovered on Denver’s 12-yard line to set up their only touchdown of the afternoon.
The Broncos had shut New England down on defense until that point and Stidham said after the 10-7 loss that he “probably should have just eaten the sack.”
“Obviously, I can’t put our team in a bad position like that,’' Stidham said. “I was trying to throw it away. ... The pressure, he just got up on me real fast and I was just trying to get rid of it. Like I said, I just can’t put the ball in a position like that. That was completely on me.”
The Broncos had a lot of other chances after the Patriots tied the game 7-7, but their offense never clicked before or after the weather turned treacherous in the second half. There’s no way to know if things would have been any different with Bo Nix in the lineup and the Broncos will now have to start all over after falling short at the worst possible time.
